Alleviation of Parakeratosis in Zinc Deficient Swine by High Levels of Dietary Histidine

Abstract

Three experiments were conducted to determine the effect of dietary histidine and histamine on zinc deficiency in baby pigs fed an isolated soybean protein-based, semi-purified diet. One percent supplemental histidine (exp. 1) or 0.2% supplemental histamine (exp. 1) did not improve growth rate but had a beneficial effect on skin lesions. Two percent supplemental histidine (exp. 2 and 3) markedly decreased the incidence and severity of skin lesions of zinc deficient pigs but did not improve growth or increase serum alkaline phosphatase activity or zinc concentration of bone, liver, skin (exp. 3) and serum. Two percent supplemental histidine significantly increased whole blood and serum (exp. 3) histamine concentrations. Supplemental zinc prevented all signs of zinc deficiency in all experiments but did not significantly affect histamine concentration of the tissues analyzed. The data indicate that histidine alleviates the skin lesions of zinc deficient pigs by a mechanism other than increasing zinc availability, and that its effect may be mediated by conversion to histamine. Copyright © 1972. American Society of Animal Science. Copyright 1972 by American Society of Animal Science.